Set in Stone
by 12Katiebug21
Summary: Just a quick drabble on the actual Spectrobes of the game, and a bit of touching up on a subject I've been waiting for someone else to write. Anyways, a bit of a tie-in to my other fic, but nothing crucial.  Constructive criticism and flames welcome! R


Set In Stone

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**Well, I've been wanting to do another oneshot lately, and this seems to be a fairly unappreciated topic. For anyone who's been reading my other Spectrobes story, you'll know right where this fits in, but if you haven't, then no big deal. Hopefully it'll still turn out okay as a drabble on what the game was named for: the Spectrobes themselves.**

**Enjoy!**

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On the day of calamity, long swathes of grass rustled in a gentle Summer breeze, at odds with the blazing sun and blue sky above. The light glinted on Daichi's limestone cliffs, refracting off minerals hidden just beneath the surface.

A yearling Spiko, having wandered off from his migratory herd, who were, incidentally, resting in a rare patch of forested ground, made his way towards these cliffs, scenting out the minerals within. He clumped along, blunted tail bumping over every inequality on the surface. He might be forgiven for not noticing a second shadow stalking in his footsteps, as in all honesty, the grass _was_ very good cover for smaller Spectrobes, especially ones who could move silently and without a trace. Still though, it must be noted that Daichi's top land predator has a neon orange coat, and you've really got to be trying hard to miss something like that.

In any case, he reached the cliffs safely, about a quarter mile away from his herd. Curiously enough, there was almost none of the long, waving grass by the cliffs, instead replaced by sand from the amount of crushed and weatherbeaten stone that generations of hungry Spectrobes tend to generate in their search for food. Spiko and Spikan, if you didn't already know, are some of the best wild Spectrobe excavators the primitive world had ever seen, using their heavy, mace-like tails to crush solid rock to fine powder. As it was, our little protagonist had happened to find something fairly rare for his troubles of walking over to these feeding grounds. A sniff, a moment of pause, of calculation, and a swing, using those blunt spikes to concentrate the force, and what do you know? Rock tumbled, coming down in satisfying chunks, interspersed with...

Yes! Hundreds of those little candy-colored pebbles had fallen with the limestone, with many more just inside the wall, sparkling like they'd been freshly polished. The little Spiko bounced up and down with glee, barely thinking as to anything but the feast before him. Now he could evolve, and he could help defend his pack like his other nestmates! At least, he could've, had he paid just a bit more attention. As mentioned above, we mustn't forget about his little tracker, waiting in the grass.

Another thing about Spiko in specific. While they may be good at finding minerals, they can't always keep them. Other Spectrobes, may they be scavengers like Tenkro, or hunters like Shakin, are generally keen to swoop in and get a bit of the loot for themselves. Spikan and Spikanor may be complete powerhouses, but a Spiko alone just isn't fast enough to fight off an enemy.

Which brings us back to the predator. She too had strayed from her pride, sleeping, on the plains and seen him, walking alone. I trust that you hold no deceptions over what kind of creature our feline friend is, and like Ryza, Nessa's counterpart to them, the Leo line has no qualms over raiding and fighting for food. Also like the Ryza line, they're attracted to movement, and enjoy chasing and pouncing each other as kittens, which leads to strong hunting instincts as Adult and Evolved Spectrobes. Indeed, the fights for male dominance between rival Leozar often only ended in death, and invariably left scorched earth in their wake.

But that's something different entirely. All that matters right now is that, attracted by the moving grass, one of the older Leo, and one of the only female for that matter, stalked a Spiko, and watched a motherlode of minerals open right before her eyes. Half of this hoard would be too much for either Child Spectrobe, and they could've shared it equitably, had they been so inclined. But, as things so often turn out, no one wanted to negotiate.

The Spiko was just tucking into a good sized bit of Aurorium, when he first heard the snarl. He whirled around, teeth chattering with anger, only to be met with the business end of a set of black claws, as the Leo, to reduce it to the simplest term possible, basically bitch-slapped the crap out of him. The Spiko screeched, dropping what remained of his mineral and fighting back with a blow of his tail. By that time though, his target was already gone, leaping out of range, and rapidly back in again to deliver another strike, this time with teeth.

At this point, our poor little friend decided that enough was enough and split for it, still trying to evade the spitting and hissing menace behind him on the way out. Once he looked back, but got an eyeful of paw, so he simply decided to keep running. This is where his part in this tale ends, although curiously enough, his retreat and its subsequent consequences may have saved the older Spectrobe's life. Interesting, how things work out, isn't it?

Meanwhile though, as we reach the near-conclusion of this narrative, little Leo had, being a wild Spectrobe with no table manners and all, decided to forego the trivialities of gloating over her victory and begin to put her spoils to good use. Coronium was ravenously devoured, all else discarded and thrown off to the side for whoever else may have found it. On any other day, perhaps after eating all that was in easy reach on the ground, she would've returned to her pride and continued to sleep the rest of the afternoon off in peace, confident that no other Spectrobes would dare challenge a pride of forty-plus members of the Leo line. Today however, like every other Child Spectrobe on Daichi and beyond, she could sense that something was off-kilter.

So, using the single-minded, logical approach that Leo and Leopuba are famed for, she figured that staying where she was would be a good decision. Here, she could hide easily, and nothing looking to hurt her would look here. Plus, there was lots of food that she could knock out with minimal effort. Maintaining a low profile would be easy enough, just be quiet and don't attract any attention to yourself.

What happened next has been the subject of a great amount of debate, and to this day, no one knows for sure. Prior to the Krawl attacks on Naniero and Kaio, the most commonly accepted theory was that of an immensely powerful electromagnetic wave, possibly generated by a supernova explosion, that hit Spectrobe populated planets, overloading the receptors responsible for hibernation in their brains, or in some cases, neural networks, and forcing them into fossil stasis. This however, didn't account for the ability for a Spectrobe Master to awaken them, or the fact that Spectrobes seem to be the Krawl's natural enemies, and vice versa. The fact of the matter is, no one knows what exactly happened, and it's likely that we never will.

What we do know is this: In that moment, something big happened, something catastrophic enough to seal every Spectrobe in Naniero and beyond away into lifeless stone. Imagine it all, the plains and mountains and forests and hills and oceans even, all covered in the most beautiful and realistic statues as far as the eye could see, statues that, mere seconds ago, were living, breathing creatures. Over millions of years, humans evolved, stood erect, and slowly developed the technology to seemingly effortlessly leap from one planet to another, finding these long-buried relics as they did so.

For years they were thought as curiosities, things to be displayed and puzzled over in museums, and it took a look down the chasm of near-tragedy to change that. The Spectrobes lived and breathed once more, but nothing could reclaim the days where they ruled over land, sea and sky, supreme masters of all three. If nothing else illustrates that point, then you can look upon two Spectrobes who met, for the first and last time, each other on a Summer's day. The Spiko is a Spikanor now, well-cared for and one of Rallen's top battle Spectrobes. Or rather, he would be if not for Gelberus of the High Krawl. In a frost-covered land, death awaited this noble beast, and his memory lived on in valiance. The Leo too, has evolved, and would be strong, have a shot at being a hero as well, if not for a careless human error that broke her beyond repair.

We are not to blame for this falling. The Krawl have attacked us, and we must fight or die at their hands... Or claws, whatever you would call those things. But if we can take one lesson from this, let it be this.

Nothing is Set in Stone.

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**Wow... That didn't turn out anything like I envisioned it... Anyways, I wrote it, so could you please review it? Constructive criticism is urgently needed! **


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